Making Straight The Path

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 50. It is God calling us out; God calling us to account. There’s a good checklist within, from verses 14-20.

We’re told to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform our vows to the Most High. This brings Jesus’ words home so powerfully to me. “Go first, and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” I learned something about blessing my enemies, and especially those who bait, curse, and persecute us. That thanksgiving sacrifice helps me refocus on my Savior, and what’s important to Him. I believe when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all the Words in the Bible become “law” to us; or they should, anyway. 2Timothy 3:16 tells us this. I’m thinking of my dad whenever he would say, “What your mom says is law.” So, when we set out to do the will of God in all things, we’re essentially, taking, or making, a vow. We’ve made a vow to obey His Word.

As I read the psalm, I am convicted. There’s hope, though. Praise God! Verse 23 tells us: “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” As we thank God, we’re glorifying Him, which brings us closer to Him, creating a stronger desire to please Him. This really pleases Him, and sets that salvation in motion. We’re shown the error, the thorn, whatever it may be. We’re guided by the Spirit to correct ourselves and remedy the problem. The path is once again made straight.

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Yes, Over ALL The Earth!

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 47. It is a praise offering to the LORD, by the sons of Korah. The psalm is a short one, so I’ll post the whole thing here.

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

Does that stir you up? It fills me with a deep and awesome joy; and I can’t help but praise Him! Verse 1 tells us God is a great king over all the earth. That means there is nothing outside of His control; nothing. Verse 4 confirms that God chose us! Not only that, but He chose us to be His children! Is that awesome?! Hallelujah! In verse 8 we are assured that He reigns over all the nations, and that He is definitely on the throne! In verse nine our royal status is confirmed. But, when Jesus died and rose again, He raised that status. We are kings and queens in the earth. We are, in Christ Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father. That’s both awesome and more than a bit scary, isn’t it? It lets us know though, that we have a responsibility to the earth and its inhabitants. Remember Jesus’ words? He came to serve; not to be served. There’s a reference in this verse to the shields of the earth. When I researched it, I found that Jupiter, the magnetosphere, and the atmosphere are called shields of the earth. Here, actually on Earth, “a large area of exposed Precambrian crystalline igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that form tectonically stable areas. These rocks are older than 570 million years and sometimes date back 2 to 3.5 billion years.” These are also called shields. They have to do with the earth’s crust, and plates that shift or don’t shift. Can you imagine God’s workload? These things are changed every time there’s a fire, flood, earthquake, or tornado and hurricane. (volume and weight) He has to adjust for all the depletion of the forests, the strip-mining, etc. WOWWWWW!!!!! Just think, if the weight of the earth was thrown all to one side? We could be careening through outerspace at breakneck speed and on a collision course with another planet. We might even be shot straight into the sun. No God? I beg to differ with you! This made me think of Psalm 104-a must read! That one will leave you awestruck and breathless.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Foundations Are Crucial

Today’s message comes from Psalms and Proverbs 11. Psalm 11 is King David stirring himself up in the LORD. He says, “In the LORD I take refuge! How can you say to me flee; and if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?!” In other words, “I am not afraid!”

That foundations thing got me. That’s right where the enemy strikes! You see, he loves to bring the house down. When I read that, it’s verse 3, by the way: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”-I see a warning there for us. We need to protect the foundations (standards and boundaries). Jesus is our foundation; He is the Word of God. (Luke 6:47-49)

Proverbs 11 gives us a list of some things to think about. 11:3 tells us that integrity guides the upright. Integrity is that adhering to truth, keeping your word, and knowing when to keep quiet, etc. We’re told that righteousness keeps our paths straight. This makes it harder to get lost or distracted. 11:6 tells us that the treacherous are taken captive by their lust. (pornography, illicit sex, greed, etc.) You can get yourself into some real trouble trying to be a people pleaser, or needing to be “in” the “in” crowd, too. 11:9 -Knowledge delivers us from falling victim to those things. This is where the knowledge of good and evil, and the wisdom to discern between the two are important. But, more important is the knowledge of God, which is wisdom. We have the Holy Spirit as guide and counselor. thankfully. Verse 11:30 tells us that the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life. When I read this, I think of Jesus’ words in (Luke 13:19) “Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”

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